The Vancouver Rise FC secured their first victory at home after defeating AFC Toronto 2-1 on Saturday (May 23).
Latifah Abdu opened up the scoring in the first 11 minutes of the match, followed by Quinn on a penalty in the 33rd minute.
Abdu said,“I think we love to start the match being front-footed. That’s what keeps us going during the game. And we like to score early. It just gets us in the game right away. So sticking to the game, we listen to the coach [Anja Heiner-Møller] – the ‘Professor’, you know – we do what she tells us to do, and we got the three points today so I’m really happy about that.”
Vancouver held possession for 59 percent of the game and took two shots on goal, both of which went in.
The Rise FC hosted Toronto at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby in front of excited fans.
AFC Toronto head coach Marko Milanović said his team was “extremely flat” in the first 30 minutes of the match, and that fell on him as the coach.
“We were very disconnected offensively, some of the things that we’re doing were very uncharacteristic and things that we’d never do,” Milanović said.
Although you never want to lose a match, if it does happen, it’s better for it to happen earlier in the season. “We will have to analyze and see exactly what happened, but we’ll be all right,” he said.
AFC Toronto managed to get a goal in added time when Cloey Uddenberg scored.
The Rise FC held onto the lead and won 2-1. This is the second game in a row the Rise FC has won after starting the season on a three-game losing streak.
Rise FC head coach Anja Heiner-Møller said the team’s strong performance led to today’s win.
“I think in possession, we waited more on the ball, we were in control as well, and we were being patient, even though we can be even more patient. I think that we controlled most of the first half there, and had two good goals. Out of possession, also being on the same page with the whole team and working really, really hard. So I think that was some of the main things that we really wanted.”
The Rise FC travel to Montreal Montreal to face Roses FC on May 30, 11 a.m. PT. The next match at home is on June 14 against the Ottawa Rapid FC, with kickoff at 2 p.m.
Vancouver Rise are part of Canada’s first professional women’s soccer league, the Northern Super League, which debuted in 2025. The other clubs are Calgary Wild FC, Halifax Tides FC, Montréal Roses, Ottawa Rapid FC and AFC Toronto.
About the Author: Anna Burns
I cover breaking news, health care, court, Vancouver Rise FC, Vancouver Goldeneyes and social issues-related topics for the Surrey Now-Leader. anna.burns@surreynowleader.com Follow Anna on Twitter.